Stevenson students advance to final round of international applied math challenge

For 14 hours straight, a small group of Stevenson High School students participated in the international online MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge.

A combination of math smarts and creative thinking earned the team a finalist slot in the early March competition and a share of $100,000 in scholarships.

The Lincolnshire school team's submission was selected as one of the best solutions to real-world questions around the predicted growth of electric bike use and its environmental impact on carbon emissions, traffic congestion or other key factors.

A total of 650 teams submitted papers detailing their recommendations. Roughly 45% of those submissions included technical computing to support and enhance their solutions, and those coding skills make them eligible for additional scholarship prizes.

Stevenson students Jack Chen, Collin Fan, Aadit Juneja, Aayush Kashyap and Nathan Ma make up one of the eight finalist teams in the contest, which drew nearly 3,000 11th- and 12th-graders from the U.S. and sixth-form students from the U.K.

The Stevenson team underwent two intense rounds of assessment and has one last hurdle on April 24, when members present their findings to a panel of professional mathematicians for final validation.

M3 Challenge is a program of Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and is sponsored by MathWorks.

The contest, now in its 18th year, spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool and motivates students to consider further education and careers in applied math, computational and data sciences, and technical computing. The champion team will receive $20,000.

“M3 Challenge has undoubtedly become the highlight of every school year,” Stevenson teacher-coach Paul Kim said. “The challenge is difficult, and that is what makes it great.”

Sponsor Eid gifts

Chicago-based Syrian Community Network is seeking sponsors for its eighth annual #ChicagoDoesEid campaign, a drive to collect presents for refugee children up to 18 years old.

The gifts will be distributed at the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. The month culminates with a three-day festival Eid al-Fitr (the feast of fast breaking), expected to fall on Thursday or Friday.

Here's how you can get involved:

Purchase gifts worth a minimum of $25 and no more than $50 per child.

Avoid purchasing clothing.

Gift-wrap or place the items in a gift bag labeled with each child's first name and last initial.

To sponsor a child, email maya@syriancommunitynetwork.org.

Women leaders

Naperville native Trisha Prabhu, an innovator, social entrepreneur, global advocate and inventor, will be the keynote speaker at Benedictine University's inaugural LeadHership Summit Thursday.

The summit will run from 7 a.m. to noon at Benedictine's Goodwin Hall of Business, Room 411 on the campus, 5700 College Road, Lisle.

It will include presentations and panel discussions examining how leadership roles for women are evolving.

LeadHership is produced by the university's young women's leadership program called L.E.A.D.S., or Leadership, Empowerment, Action, Development and Service. Created in 2021, it is a four-year co-curricular, transformational program for first-year undergraduate women who demonstrate a desire to grow as leaders.

“LeadHership will enable young women to learn from and interact with women who are changing the landscape of how leadership is viewed today,” said Nicki Anderson, director of the L.E.A.D.S. program. “This experience will be both practical and aspirational, and we hope life-changing for the young women who attend and participate.”

Benedictine University President Charles Gregory said students will use the skills they are learning in the L.E.A.D.S. program and at the summit “to become agents of change for the good of their communities and the globe.”

Prabhu's patented ReThink app, which she invented when she was 13 years old, aims to stop cyberbullying. Now 20, Prabhu has delivered more than 75 talks in 30 cities and in three languages about the power of “ReThinking,” including on several TED and TEDx stages. She is a graduate of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville and Harvard University, where she received a U.S. Rhodes Scholarship.

Panel discussions will feature Sudeshna Sen, executive vice president at dentsu international; Grace Buzzard, vice president of strategic operations at SAP; and Kelly Meyer Douglas, chief executive officer at Naperville-based Itzy Ritzy.

Tickets are $50 each. The deadline to purchase tickets is Tuesday. To register, visit http://bit.ly/40sOSPh.

Muslim Action Day

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago is inviting Muslims across the region to join its 15th annual Illinois Muslim Action Day on May 3, at the State Capitol in Springfield.

The day, which runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., provides Muslim community members the opportunity to raise important issues with state legislative leaders, strengthen relationships with lawmakers and build community power with civic and faith partners.

The deadline to register is Saturday. To sign up, visit https://bit.ly/40cdfzP.

Engaging with refugees

Park Ridge-based Exodus World Service will conduct virtual and in-person cross-cultural training sessions on engaging with refugees in April and May.

The training offers volunteers in-depth learning and activities to broaden their understanding of who refugees are, how they get to the U.S. and what help they receive when they arrive. Participants can learn about the diverse cultures of many refugees arriving and how to navigate cross-cultural communication and friendship.

Sessions will be held on Zoom from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to noon May 20. In-person sessions are from 1 to 4 p.m. April 29 and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 24, at Exodus World Service, 780 Busse Highway.

To register, visit exodusworldservice.org/upcoming/.

Share stories, news and happenings from the suburban mosaic at mkrishnamurthy@dailyherald.com.